Author Archives: Daisy

Back to School – January Edition

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Going back to school, ending a break of decent length, all of that starts today. I’ve checked in on my school mail account(s) a few times because I have ongoing plans and commitments pending. I have not, however, graded any work during break. Progress reports will be at the top of my to-do list all too soon.

I looked back to posts from a year ago. I expect much of the same, mostly. Mainly. I think, probably. For example, I have a blanket and several pair of fingerless gloves at my desk.

The pair on the left is warmest. The pair in the middle goes with everything. The pair on the right goes with nothing. I’m set for any occasion.

I know I’ll be getting envelopes decorated like this:

Some envelops will look like this, so overloaded that they’ll need duct tape to seal them.

As I was browsing, I saw last January’s post titled “Notes to Teacher Self.” I pulled it up, of course, and found notes that are still relevant to my teacher self a year later. Here are the highlights.

  • Note to reading teacher self: When a student doesn’t have her book, always ask why. Why? One of my middle school struggling readers didn’t have her copy of The Cricket in Times Square because (drum roll) her 16-year-old brother had picked it up and was reading it. Ah, I love this job.
  • Note to PR-loving self: It’s okay to say no. When approached about an interview with a local rag that has been notoriously anti-teacher, No is a valid response. Feel no guilt.
  • Note to role model self: Smile, don’t laugh, when a student struggles in writing to a prompt because “he doesn’t know anyone with a disability.” If they don’t remember I’m hearing impaired and it’s a disability, I’ll take that as a compliment. It means my disability doesn’t interfere with the way I do my job.

And that, teacher self, is one to remember.

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And on we go, into 2014

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Yesterday I described a few highlights and lowlights to what I’m now calling the Year of Survival, 2013. To follow up, I’ll address the other part of the challenge: What word reflects my intentions for 2014?

Many of my ongoing projects got set aside in the mess that was 2013. The manuscript for the book Educating Amigo is still in limbo, and sending out submission packages became less of a goal than learning to walk well and handle stairs without a cane. The book project is back on a front burner now, and I hope to reach out to a another potential writer/editor for guidance.

I wrote a few short grants at work, none successful. I don’t mind losing the grants; I learn a little every time I do the research involved in any project funding request. Looking ahead, my grant applications will still focus on our goals of increasing family involvement and improving reading skills. I might reach out to more grantors who have the same mission, rather than more general resources.

In a post on my employer’s national blog, I suggested setting goals in the form of a 3-2-1 summary. 3 good habits to keep in place; 2 bad habits to break or leave behind; and finally, 1 positive change. Let’s see how that looks in my own life.

3 good habits:

  1. Put my health first. Reach out to health professionals as necessary.
  2. Eat local, cook from scratch, and preserve (can and freeze) to keep the family’s menu healthy and delicious. 
  3. Rest. Make sleep a priority.  

2 bad habits to leave behind:

  1. Stop putting my health at risk by putting off routine care – this is a dangerous route to follow.
  2. Don’t sweat the small stuff; keep the big priorities on top of the to-do list. 

And in conclusion, 1 positive change to put into place:

Get my home office in shape and use it – for book work, possibly for summer school, and also for privacy, peace, and quiet.

Back to the first question: What word reflects my intentions for 2014?

Reach. Reach out to those who can help keep me healthy and keep my brain and body functioning properly; reach for resources that can help with grants for my work and help with the publishing process; reach for the sky, but keep at least one foot on the ground for balance.

Readers, how about you?

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Summing up the year

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The post on Facebook was simple, or so it seemed. “What one word sums up 2013 for you? And what word reflects your intentions for 2014?”

2013: For me, the word was Survival. My episode that resembled a stroke happened in late 2012, but I spent a great deal of 2013 recovering. Physical therapy, walking with a cane, gradually and slowly reconnecting the left side of my body to my brain.

A few highlights on Survival in 2013:

Choosing a word for 2014 is harder. I picked one on an impulse, of course. We’ll look toward the future – tomorrow.

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Captions are Entertaining

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The NFL sees protests across the country asking that the Washington Redskins change their name to eliminate the demeaning racist image their current name and mascot portray.

The team and the NFL should have a talk with the people who add the closed captioning to their broadcasts. The scene was this: Washington at Green Bay, kick-off at noon on Sunday, with a protest outside the stadium at the Oneida gate. Elsewhere, as people watched the game on their home or bar television sets, those with closed captioning saw the visiting team referred to as The Washington Red Cross.

Chuck kept channel surfing through his own station to make sure they were still on the air with their Christmas Eve mass. I noticed the captioner didn’t quite get the gist of it when I read, “…father, sun, and holly ghost.” Protestant caption-writer? Not Catholic, for sure.

Then I was watching NFL football with Amigo, and the live captioning referred to Carolina Panthers’ quarterback Cam Newton as Cam Putin.

Let’s examine the possibilities here. 1. The network could have borrowed a captioner from the news staff, one who knows current events in Russia better than he or she knows the NFL starting quarterbacks. 2. The auto-correct feature (not unlike that on cell phones) may have grabbed the basic sounds and missed the first consonant. 3. Closed captioning technology hasn’t evolved as the need for captions and widespread us of captions has grown.

I didn’t include “All of the Above” as an option, but that’s probably the best answer. Captioning technology does have automatic fill-in-the-blank features. The people trained to write the captions that appear on our TV screens may or may not have knowledge of the main topic – in the last example, NFL football.

I expect transcribing live captions must be a challenging job. There’s no rewind or DVR when the announcers are commenting on fast-breaking action of a football game. However, it’s time. It’s time for networks and local stations to get serious about closed captioning. It’s time to go beyond just meeting the bare minimum requirements of disability laws, and time to provide a quality product for consumers.

Meanwhile, captions or no captions, it’s time for My Packers to rally around their quarterback, Aaron Rodgers!

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Decorating Cubicle Nation

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We’re elementary teachers in my section of the office, and it shows. Seasonal “ugly” sweaters were the norm in December. We may not have four walls and a chalkboard for decoration, but our cubicles do express our personalities and the season.

Packers' Stocking

Packers’ Stocking

Dear Santa; now that the holiday rush is over and you have a little time to spare, please bring Aaron Rodgers a healthy and strong collarbone. He needs it, and we need him.

Packers' Hat

Look closely!

Santa, if you look closely, my red and white hat has a hint of green and gold, too I knew you wouldn’t mind.

Let it snow!

Let it snow!

Across the aisle from my place of employment, my coworker set up a theme she can keep up beyond Christmas. Like it or not, we will get snow, so we might as well celebrate the weather.

Not a tree

Not a tree

It’s not a typical tree, but with a few painted pine cones and a felt snowman, my plant can look festive, too.

So Santa, we keep working hard and making the place look homey and bright. Please give some thought to that little favor for the green and gold clan. Really.

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Reusing, Repurposing, and Mysteries

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Gift bags are easy to reuse. Stuff with fresh tissue, tie a new tag on the handles, and the gift is good to go. I pulled this one out of the basement stash a few days ago. The “stash” is a big Rubbermaid tub filled with holiday themed gift bags in every possible size and shape.

Pretty bag!

Pretty bag!

La Petite caught the bag in just the right light and discovered this.

Who?

Who?

Here’s the mystery. We have no Julie in the immediate family. The closest Travis is a cousin once removed, someone on the level of an annual card, but not in the gift circle. I have several friends named Julie – it’s a popular name for my generation thanks to Julie Andrews – but none that I know of with a Travis for a nephew.

Julie and Travis, wherever they are, probably don’t remember this bag. They certainly don’t know that their bag is a gift that keeps on giving. For that matter, they might not have been the first to use it. Ah, if only the gift bag could talk.

 

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Green Wrappings

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It’s not surprising that my holiday posts have been few and far between as we juggled health and shopping and wrapping and this little thing called working for a living. Many years I’ve shared environmentally friendly methods of wrapping. Amigo tells me I’ve gone too far, La Petite thinks through her wrapping by saying, “What would mom do with this?” and Chuck reuses what he can from my stock in the basement. I was so exhausted this year that I almost resorted to buying wrapping paper – but I held out. I stuck to my convictions. and the pile under the tree still looked festive.

For example —

reams of red

reams of red

I’ve had this ream of red paper for years and year. The school project for which I bought it is long, long done and gone, so I sent a small stack through the shredder.

Shredder Christmas!

Shredder Christmas!

The shred covers and pads several jars. Let’s work backward to see the rest.

jars and tags

jars and tags

Under the shred, the jars of homemade goodies are decorated with tops from old cards. The old cards also function as tags.

 

bags and napkins

bags and napkins

The reusable bags are from Half Price Books. They’re made of recycled plastic water bottles, and they make great shopping bags for farmers’ markets and more. Each bag has a small cushion at the base: a holiday napkin purchased from a thrift store. It’s reusable, too. To the right of the napkins, you see reused containers that now hold an onion soup mix. Don’t buy the packages in the grocery store; use a few tablespoons of this instead.

Grocery bags!

Grocery bags!

When I forget my own bags (gasp) bring too few to fit the purchases, I know I’ll reuse the paper bags, especially if the store has a seasonal set. On this note, I’ll turn out the lights and take a nap. It’s been a long road and a lot of work, but it’s still a wonderful and green holiday for my family.

 

 

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Holiday Home Tour

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I didn’t join the bloggy home tour initially because I was too embarrassed at the cluttered and messy and even dirty and dusty state of the O.K. Chorale itself. Instead, I took a few pictures for a close up view of the holiday home decor – Daisy style.
Front Door

Front Door

There’s a small wreath to welcome visitors at the front door. We no longer use the mail slot, but it suits the house.

Santa Hat

Santa Hat

Santa gets around the entire world on Christmas Eve, so why not a Santa hat on the talking globe? It fits.

Snowman and Oregano

Snowman and Oregano

“You don’t have to display everything,” said my dear darling husband. I scowled at him and walked over to hang this favorite snowman next to the oregano.

candy bowl

candy bowl

The candy bowl is looking festive, inside and out.

Historic Decor

And last, keeping company with a few holiday music CDs, a snowman that Amigo made in school.

Welcome to my abode, folks, simple thought it may be. Merry Christmas to you and yours.

 

 

 

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Don’t Stop Believing

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A favorite memory from teaching 6th grade

The entire school was bouncing. I expected the building itself to go boing, boing, boing any time, with the amount of pre-holiday energy inside it. One of our specialists commented, “Ms. M. has the ‘too-cool-for-school’ class this year, and you have the energetic one.” She was right. My class, full of really nice kids from wonderful parents, has turned into the elementary equivalent of Animal Planet. Since tranquilizer darts are frowned upon in public schools (I’m KIDDING, I’m kidding!), I had to resort to creative drama to bring them to attention.
My class, as a whole, had been quiet exactly twice the previous day.
The questions of the day revolved around Christmas and Santa. All. Day. Long. “Is Santa real?” “How many reindeer does Santa have?” “Is Santa Claus real?” “How did all this Santa stuff start, anyway?” “Is Santa real?”
They were 6th graders, ages eleven and twelve. They were old enough to know the truth, but did they? I couldn’t take a chance on destroying someone’s innocence and having their parents hit the roof. So I gave them my stock answer: it depends on who you ask. Well, that didn’t last long.
During my graduate program, I took a class in storytelling from a professional storyteller. I relied on those skills to get the students’ attention. When they asked me how many reindeer there were, I stopped, put on my hmmm, there’s a story in here somewhere pose, and waited for quiet. Amazingly, quiet descended almost immediately.
“How many reindeer? Well, it depends on who you ask. If you ask Clement C. Moore, he’d have said Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Vixen.” They were almost nodding along with me. Some were counting on their fingers. “Now of course you recall the most famous reindeer of all.”
“Rudolph!” they chimed in.
“And Rudolph makes nine. But there’s a tenth reindeer, too. Do you know her name?”
One highly gifted child knew. “Olive!!!”
Yes, Olive the other reindeer… you know, the one who “…used to laugh and call him names.”
And that was just math class.
The “Is Santa real?” question wouldn’t die. They finally cornered me during Classroom Guidance on my “It depends on who you ask” with the statement “We’re asking you.”
Thank goodness for the Internet.
I found a copy of Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, told them the story, and read them the editorial. For those few moments, they were spellbound.

That year my class left me exhausted and happy every single day. They wore me out with their energy, and they energized me with their enthusiasm. And every year around this time, I remember the way they listened and absorbed my answer to their question. This year, I’ll quote Journey and the Glee cast: Don’t stop believing.

from Facebook

from Facebook

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Fables and Culture

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The folks at the national office asked if I would lend them my name on a corporate blog post. I read through it, and I immediately felt transported to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows… but for reasons not so obvious.

Let’s see if I can remember the scene. Hermione had just received a very special book: The Tales of Beetle the Bard. Ron Weasley knew what the tales were all about because to him, they were like Goldilocks and the Three Bears or many other familiar tales that start with “Once upon a time” are to me and my family. To Harry and Hermione, however, Beetle the Bard was completely foreign. They had been raised in Muggle households without the knowledge of wizard folk literature.

What’s my point? Oh, readers, I always have a point, magical or not. The post I’d been asked to claim as my own had to do with folk tales. One line near the beginning stated, “By this time, your student will know all about tales like –” I think you get the picture. Not all families tell the same tales from the same culture, and our world is much richer for the variety that results.

People, the Fabled Fairies remain my own creation. But for a few other fables, take a look at this post. While Beetle the Bard remains conspicuous in his absence, I hope I inserted enough statements and hints that no one will presume that one culture has a monopoly on stories passed down through generations. Cinderella, anyone?

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